Narrator Johnny Heller affects a “James Cagney” gangster tone—“ya see”—and a slightly askew attitude in this madcap romp set in San Francisco in 1947. This follow-up to Moore’s wacky NOIR deploys Heller as the voice of the loopy gang leader and his flaky followers. Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin and the rest of the Cookie’s Coffee Irregulars stumble through a pretzel plot involving murder, gangsters, and an ancient relic with supernatural powers. Outrageous, outlandish, outstanding, and out-and-out funny, Heller portrays this comical caper like the Marx Brothers on acid. He knows how to throw a punchline, and there are bunches of laughs, giggles, and guffaws in every chapter. Cheeky, saucy, and irreverent, RAZZMATAZZ, as performed by Heller, kills. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

03/07/2022

In this humorous romp, bestseller Moore returns to the 1947 San Francisco setting of Noir, where bartender and amateur problem-solver Sammy Tiffin is faced with several requests for assistance. Jimmy Vasco, proprietress of a lesbian bar, asks Sammy to find the killer targeting her community; Eddie Shu wants Sammy to recover a dragon statue for his Uncle Ho; and Mabel, “the preeminent nookie bookie in Fog City,” needs help smuggling her girls out of town to a Christmas party. Meanwhile, Sammy’s squeeze, Tilly Stilton, uses her considerable welding skills on a mystery project at the telepathic behest of Scooter, the “moonman” from the previous volume. And in flashbacks to 1906, a younger Ho contends with a very real and terrifying dragon. Moore, entirely in his element and with tongue firmly in cheek, has his characters speak in gumshoe-esque vernacular, while warning in an author’s note that “the language and attitudes portrayed herein regarding race, culture, and gender are contemporary to that time and, sadly, all too real.” Indeed, punctuating all the spoofy amateur sleuthing are more serious depictions of the maltreatment of the Chinese and LGBTQ communities, adding some necessary gravitas. Moore’s fans and those who like their noir with a side of slapstick and the supernatural will enjoy. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Company. (May)

Smart and funny and all sorts of raunchy in the best way. . . Dazzles, entertains and squeezes in more than a few laughs. . . Razzmatazz is another success for Christopher Moore.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Moore and his merry band of miscreants are firmly on the right side of history—and they will make you laugh until it hurts.” — BookPage (starred review)

"There is literally a laugh on every page of this book (several, on some pages), and with its fast-paces, deliberately helter-skelter storyline, it sinks its hooks deeply and never lets go." — Booklist

"A humorous romp. . . . Moore’s fans and those who like their noir with a side of slapstick and the supernatural will enjoy." — Publishers Weekly

“Razzmatazz is marked with the same sort of coarse charm that permeates all of Moore’s books. . . . There’s chaos at play throughout—there’s a LOT going on—yet Moore handles it deftly, resulting in a book whose myriad fractured storylines ultimately come together in a delightfully droll denouement.” — The Maine Edge

"Razzmatazz is Christopher Moore once again at his unique best. Bravo!" — Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"Moore’s trademark humor is on full display with his cast of strangely lovable characters. This is Shakespeare with an edge and will not only appeal to Moore’s fans but garner new ones." — Library Journal (starred review) on Shakespeare for Squirrels

“This book is so funny, so full of gloriously ludicrous characters and plausibility-defying goings-on that reading it in public should only be undertaken if you don’t mind making a spectacle of yourself. Because you will laugh. Out loud.”
— Winnipeg Free Press

“Buckle in for Shakespeare for Squirrels, an uproarious take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—transformed into a murder mystery. . . A funny, fast-paced, and wild read.”  — Huffington Post

"It takes a certain amount of guts and wild abandon to recast a Shakespeare comedy as a hard-boiled detective story, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s master satirist Moore, whose gift for funny business apparently knows no bounds. . . . A welcome return of a fan-favorite character in a romp of a tale that will delight not only mystery buffs but also fantasy fanatics, and, of course, Bard lovers." — Booklist (starred review) on Shakespeare for Squirrels

“Christopher Moore gives us dizzy dames and shadowy gangsters in Noir. Sammy, Moore’s comic revision of Sam Spade, will take you on a silly-thrilly ride through late-1940s San Francisco, and you’ll be laughing all the way.” — Washington Post

“[A] pedal-to-the-metal, exquisitely written comic romp through a neon-lit San Francisco that may never have actually existed, but that, in Moore’s supremely talented hands, sure feels like it could have.” — Booklist (starred review) on Noir

"It takes a certain amount of guts and wild abandon to recast a Shakespeare comedy as a hard-boiled detective story, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s master satirist Moore, whose gift for funny business apparently knows no bounds. . . . A welcome return of a fan-favorite character in a romp of a tale that will delight not only mystery buffs but also fantasy fanatics, and, of course, Bard lovers."

Buckle in for Shakespeare for Squirrels, an uproarious take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—transformed into a murder mystery. . . A funny, fast-paced, and wild read.” 

"There is literally a laugh on every page of this book (several, on some pages), and with its fast-paces, deliberately helter-skelter storyline, it sinks its hooks deeply and never lets go."

[A] pedal-to-the-metal, exquisitely written comic romp through a neon-lit San Francisco that may never have actually existed, but that, in Moore’s supremely talented hands, sure feels like it could have.

Christopher Moore gives us dizzy dames and shadowy gangsters in Noir. Sammy, Moore’s comic revision of Sam Spade, will take you on a silly-thrilly ride through late-1940s San Francisco, and you’ll be laughing all the way.

Christopher Moore gives us dizzy dames and shadowy gangsters in Noir. Sammy, Moore’s comic revision of Sam Spade, will take you on a silly-thrilly ride through late-1940s San Francisco, and you’ll be laughing all the way.

"There is literally a laugh on every page of this book (several, on some pages), and with its fast-paces, deliberately helter-skelter storyline, it sinks its hooks deeply and never lets go."

Narrator Johnny Heller affects a “James Cagney” gangster tone—“ya see”—and a slightly askew attitude in this madcap romp set in San Francisco in 1947. This follow-up to Moore’s wacky NOIR deploys Heller as the voice of the loopy gang leader and his flaky followers. Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin and the rest of the Cookie’s Coffee Irregulars stumble through a pretzel plot involving murder, gangsters, and an ancient relic with supernatural powers. Outrageous, outlandish, outstanding, and out-and-out funny, Heller portrays this comical caper like the Marx Brothers on acid. He knows how to throw a punchline, and there are bunches of laughs, giggles, and guffaws in every chapter. Cheeky, saucy, and irreverent, RAZZMATAZZ, as performed by Heller, kills. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine